My First Visit to Ladyminster

As many of you who follow my life on Facebook, and have read this blog before may know, I have been an Oblate of Saint Benedict for a number of years now. One of the privileges afforded to Oblates is that we may visit the monastery we are attached to. I have been trying to visit my monastery for at least as long as I have been a novice Oblate, and this year I was finally able to go.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 17

I apologize for missing two days of updates. My wife and I have been very tired as of late, so when my day is done I usually go straight to bed. Anyway, we continue on where we left off, explaining how the prayers of the Hours should be practiced.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 16

This next chapter deviates from what we have seen with the services thus far. This chapter talks about praying during the day. Some of my readers may remember that I have touched on such things before in previous blog posts. Also, this is still a short chapter.

The Orthodox West

In my post on Chapter 15 of the Rule of Saint Benedict, I mentioned toward the end that the West was once Orthodox. Many people - at least those who know that there is such a thing as Eastern Christianity - often think of the West as being distinctly Roman Catholic, and the East as being distinctly Orthodox. While today that assumption pretty much holds true, at one point in time it did not.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 15

Not much for an introduction today; I'm running out of things to say to open these short chapters. I will say this, though, and that is for everything there is a reason. I may not know what the reason is, nor how to accurately explain the reasonings behind the thing, but there is a reason for the thing.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 14

This next chapter is really short, like only 2 verses long. And again it covers the proper procedure for services.

The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapter 4

This chapter of the Rule covers good works. Many of my protestant readers may think that Orthodoxy is a works based religion, which is partially accurate; we are a faith based religion that practices faith based works. We don't think that these works will get us into heaven; rather we have faith, and doing works is a result of that faith.

Oblates of Saint Benedict

Many, if not most, Christians should be familiar with Saint Benedict (b. 470, d. 543) , if not in name, then at least for the monastic rule that he left behind. Saint Benedict is usually known as the father of Western Monasticism, but his rule also spawned what is known as oblates.